Are priorities supposed to be straight?

Lately this word has come up a lot. It ties in to that elusive balance I try to achieve. What are your priorities?

It's funny in a way that once you have a family and a house and a job, your priorities are pretty much set out for you. Not that having that stuff and balancing it is easy; it just seems easier to decide what's important to you.

No one is going to question you when you say your biggest priority is your child. Or paying your mortgage. But they might look at you a little funny when you tell them your biggest priority of the year is being a grocery store cashier. Or eating every Dairy Queen Blizzard of the Month.

But then again, who knows what kind of crazy antics of mine (or others like me) will turn into thousands of years from now? What makes sense? More importantly: Who cares? Just Be!

Life Goal No. 14

It's a life goal of mine to see the Olympics. I'm not picky. Any Olympic event will do. Any place in the world will do. Every few years I revisit this goal when the games come on TV.

The Olympics are some of the coolest events in the world because originally they were created to honor the Greek gods, all sorts of amazing athletes show up and it's one of the few times the world comes together to celebrate something positive.

My best girlfriend from Norway will watch her friends compete in downhill skiing events in Vancouver today. How insanely awesome is that?!? She asked me to go, but I told her I just couldn't swing it.

What she doesn't know is that her friend is picking me up at the airport on their way out of Seattle (she thinks her friend is picking up some clients) before they drive to Vancouver. Today. At 3pm.

Oh. My. God. I can't tell you how impossible of a secret this was to keep. Fulfilling a life goal, traveling to a new city AND surprising my best friend I haven't seen in three months? AHHHH!!! I am so excited and I just want to share it with everyone! Life is good!

Hope in all the right places

I have a very strange fear of dying of dehydration. Most of the time this works out to my advantage, because I drink a lot of water and eat tons of fruits and veggies to stave off said death. But once in a while I have to face that fear. And this week I am: I've gone to the desert. Las Vegas to be exact.

Those who know me know that I've sworn off this place. I've been here several times, and it's not really my scene now. Alas, there is a trade show here, and I want to be involved. So here I am. Again.

Once I got here I knew tons of old memories would come flooding back. And I was right. But they weren't the memories I expected.

The last time I was here I had just turned 27 and swore to myself that I was going to do all those things I had set out to do in life. People say that all the time, but dammit! I was going to do it. I was about two months into it and honestly thought I wasn't doing too bad.

I wanted to get paid to write. At the time I worked at a job I hated and didn't do much writing beyond emails. These days, most of my job is writing, and I even get to play on Twitter and Facebook.

I wanted to be in better shape so I joined a gym and worked out a few days a week. The weekend I was in Vegas I certainly wasn't going to work out! This was Vegas for god's sake! This week I packed my workout clothes without even thinking about it.

I lived in Minnesota, the state I grew up in. No way in hell I was going to spend the rest of my life living there. Don't get me wrong, I love the place, but have you checked the weather lately? No thank you! I can't complain too much about the weather in California...because it's CALIFORNIA! Oh, and I call it home now. Sick!

I started blogging then, and I tried really hard to update regularly. But months would go by and nothing would be posted. Lately my posts have been weekly and usually on the same day. (OK, OK I am a few days late this week, but c'mon it's Vegas!)

The few days I have been in the desert has been nothing but encouraging. And at the beginning of the year, with new goals in mind, I think most people could use the encouragement.

So in that spirit, I encourage everyone who has begun a journey, big or small, to look for the positive influence in something they may not have considered, whether it be that person who never has anything good to say or a place with nothing but difficult memories. You may be surprised at what you encounter.

New Years' Blessings

To those who resolved to lose weight this year: may you get through the tough times, avoid temptation and foster a great love for all things vegetable (without the butter).

To those who resolved to spend more time with loved ones: may you develop a knack for time management, the ability to say 'no' more often and an unwillingness to stay past 5pm at work.

To those who resolved to quit smoking: may you meet people who dislike cigarette smoke as much as you like it, seek other alternatives and not kill anyone.

For those who resolved to take a trip: may your savings account grow by leaps and bounds, your passport arrive unharmed and your layovers be short (but not too short).

The Fairy Godmother of New Years' Resolutions blesses all of your resolutions, big or small. Here's to dreams coming true in 2010!

All I needed to know this year I learned in 2009

In the past few weeks my mailbox has been full of Christmas newsletters. My niece is having her first Christmas, my cousin shot three deer (mmm....venison) and another cousin is getting married (congrats Sarah and Dan!).


While some people find these a little self-important, (including myself when I let the cynic out of the basement), I think they serve a great purpose on keeping people up to date on life and also helping to reflect back on the year. It's with that in mind that I write my 2009 newsletter.


This year has been more about learning than any time I spent in college. I've stretched and grown in more ways than I thought were possible. Here are some highlights from what I've learned in 2009:

• You can wear the same pair of jeans to both coasts of the United States without washing them. A weekend roadtrip to Washington D.C. for no real reason and a plane ride to L.A. to visit an old friend a week later proved that.



• Be careful what you wish for. "I wish we could spend one more night in Dublin," I said to Jean sadly on our last night in Ireland. This led to the following lesson.



• Most planning is unnecessary, except when it comes to travel. Oops! Did we miss our trans-Atlantic flight home? That happens. Right?



• A lot of times, the right choice is the hardest choice. Saying goodbye to the comfort of my home, my city and my friends was one of the toughest things I've ever done. But I haven't regretted it for a second. Not even when I was really missing Wednesday girls night.



• Be confident. Don't question yourself. There were a few times when I worried I wouldn't find a job, wouldn't make friends or would end up in the street like a real crazy lady. But I kept my chin up and believed in myself. Job? Check! Friends? Yes! Crazy lady? Always have been, but I'm still sleeping in a bed!



• Make goals. Even if you don't accomplish them, you gain something in the process. My summer goal was to finagle a motorcycle ride. I didn't know anyone I wanted to sit behind on a bike, let alone trust with my life, but that was a minor detail. I ended up taking a great ride the weekend before Labor Day with a guy who would later end up being my unbelievably cool boyfriend. Bonus!



• Just Be. This isn't a new one, but it's one to remember every year. If it weren't for the time I spent Just Be-ing, I wouldn't have learned any of the other stuff.

I want to say thank you to those who have read, commented, and thought about commenting on my blog. I appreciate everyone who has invested their time into something I've created. It means a lot. Happy holidays!

Collaborations of Abstraction

http://collaborationsofabstraction.wordpress.com/

One of my goals in the past year was to visit Europe. A friend and I made plans to fly to Ireland as well as Spain. Along with great photos and 10 pounds (damn that Spanish wine and ham!), we brought back the email address of some Welsh dude.

Fast-forward about six months and I found myself with another friend from across the globe. And this one happened to be inspired by my blog -- so inspired that he started his own.
http://welshtramp.blogspot.com/

(I'm still very flattered by this.)

There have been times when I've wanted to post something on my blog, but it really didn't suit the theme. I know it's hard to believe, but there are times when the pessimist comes out of the basement and I just want to rant. Or sound off on politics. Or let the inner conspiracy theorist have the reins. And Iain had similar feelings about his blog.

I've been trying to find someone to co-write on a blog with me for quite some time. But not everyone fancies themselves writers, and a lot of people just don't feel the need to put it "out there." So after watching my friend blog like a maniac for the past few months, I decided to ask him. And he was soooo down! Sweet!

So check out our new blog Collaborations of Abstraction. It's full of all sorts of interesting discoveries and thoughts from all over the world. At least interesting to us. Comments are encouraged. Suggestions are welcome.

http://collaborationsofabstraction.wordpress.com/

We'll both continue our individual blogs. So don't worry. My ridiculous optimism will continue. How could it not? There are so many beautiful things to consider and appreciate!

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

This weekend I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and saw a great white shark. It was pretty amazing. These sharks don't do well in captivity. They are rescued, cared for and released quickly back to the ocean. I was really blessed to be able to get there and see it.

One of my life goals is to swim with great white sharks. You know--in a giant cage surrounded by bloody fish guts.

For the longest time I thought that it would take ages for me to realize that goal. Actually, there are a lot of life goals I have that seem pretty overwhelming: see the Olympics, live in Ireland, perfect the over easy egg. But I realized on the day I visited the aquarium that it's all about taking little steps to make the big thing happen.

My goal is to swim with the sharks. I've now seen a live great white in person. I live near the ocean. It's only a matter of time before I'll be swimming with them. My goal is to see the Olympics. I have friends of friends that ski in the Olympics and the winter games are in Vancouver next. I happen to know someone who lives there. I want to live in Ireland. I've visited several areas. I also have a good friend who will help me get a visa and find a place to stay. The eggs? Well, I just keep trying.

I guess the pattern I'm noticing in this is that a big life goal is just a series of small steps. There's a tendency to look at the large picture and get discouraged. But really, it's all about finding the path and walking along, asking for directions. This is not an all-or-nothing thing--that's too extreme. If we looked at it that way, we could be tempted to not do anything at all.

Doing the little things in between is what is really important. Patience and following through is how we can achieve all things, big and small---swimming with sharks and cooking eggs.